Welcome to Living Well Daily, the newsletter serving up tips to help you live a healthier, happier life.
In today’s edition:
😊Mental / Emotional Well-Being: Cultivating Zest: Bringing Energy Back to Life
💖Longevity & Wellness: A Hot Cup of longevity?
🌱Trauma Healing: Reclaiming Your Body: Safety in Your Skin Again (Day 1/5)
🧠 Inner Reps: Mental Well-Being Interval Workout
☀️Journal & Joy Prompts
👇 And more good stuff!
Today’s Edition
We just got amazing news! You are here, reading this, and that is the best news because you are just remarkably great and we like you. So, thank you for being you!
Cultivating Zest: Bringing Energy Back to Life
Zest is that spark of energy, curiosity, and enthusiasm that makes life feel vivid. I like to think of it as a much needed antidote to cynicism and apathy (which can so easily creep in when life or the world feels a little heavy). Zest isn’t about being endlessly upbeat. It’s not about being perfectly rested. It’s instead about leaning into life with a curiosity that invites joy and possibility, even in small ways. When zest feels missing, we can practice inviting it back in.
✨ Why it matters: infuses joy and meaning into ordinary moments, helps relieve stress, anxiety, and tension, combats pessimism, and increases engagement with life.
🌟 How to cultivate zest
🎶 Seek novelty: try a new café, song, or walking route.
🌞 Do one thing each day with childlike wonder.
🤝 Engage fully in conversations: listen deeply, share openly.
🚀 Say yes to something that feels slightly adventurous.
💡Try using the word “zest” as a prompt to explore a new way of being. Language can help spark new life outcomes.
✅ Action Step: Choose one small activity today and approach it with fresh eyes, energy, and enthusiasm: notice how zest shifts the experience.
A Hot Cup of longevity?
A daily cup of coffee, in my opinion, might be my favourite thing about the morning, but it can also boost your longevity. Coffee is full of polyphenols and antioxidants that act as hormetic agents. Hormesis is the process by which mild stress strengthens the body, much like exercise strengthens muscles. The natural compounds in coffee trigger cellular repair pathways that protect against aging and disease.
Research links moderate coffee consumption (about 3–5 cups/day) to lower risks of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, Parkinson’s, and some cancers. However, new research suggests that too much sugar and saturated fat added can limit the benefits of coffee.
✅Action step: Aim for 1 to 3 cups daily, keeping add-ins light like sugar and cream to maximize benefits. Also, drink it early enough to make sure it doesn't impact your sleep.
Reclaiming Your Body: Safety in Your Skin Again
Trauma often makes the body feel unsafe betrays you with memories and sensations. This week is about gently rebuilding connection and safety, so your body can start to feel like home.
Day 1: Why Trauma Disrupts Body Safety
When trauma happens, the body often carries the imprint. It remembers through sensations, flashbacks, or tension. That can make you feel unsafe inside your own skin.
⚡ The nervous system stays on alert, creating hypervigilance.
🧊 Survivors may feel numb, disconnected, or detached from their bodies.
🫂 These are survival strategies, not personal failings.
🌱 Safety in the body can be rebuilt slowly and gently.
Darling, don’t give up on yourself, you’re so worth it. Sending love 💕
Release the need to do it perfectly. Good enough is more than enough.
📖Journal Prompt:
Building a Caring Relationship with Yourself
At what point in your life have you had the highest self-esteem? Why? What did it look like? What can you call forward into the present?
🌟Spark of Joy:
Let Little Things Move You
Look up at the evening sky… let the dark vastness move you in in the best way, shrinking worries and inspiring wonder.
Today’s Mental and Emotional Workout:
This workout will increase your ability to:
See and notice your skills and abilities, lowering self-doubt and increasing self-confidence
Appreciate the people in your life, deepening connections
Be excited by life so that you can wake up feeling better about each day
In under 8 minutes, you’ll strengthen positive neural pathways for long-term well-being and end the workout feeling better than you started! (Click on the photo below to access the workout)
Thank you for being here!
Before you go, let us know what you thought of today’s edition and if there are any subjects you would like us to cover in the future reply to this email and let us know!
What did you think of today's edition?
With love and care,
Lola & Joshua | The Living Well Team
Living Well Daily is for educational purposes only and is in no way a substitute for professional medical and mental health advice and diagnosis. Please consult a qualified professional for care unique to your needs.
Remember: It’s okay to ask for help. Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 (Canada & US).